Have you ever seen Miss World? Mister Universe? Olympics? Or any other great competition? I believe you did. There are so many great competitions in the world but I miss one which I could call Miss and Mister Excuse. There are so many people doing a marvelous job at this and there is not a single one competition on Earth to appreciate that! Or at least there is no ordinary competition to do that but I believe that the competition and the main judge is the life itself!

Last year I was experiencing and trying many new opportunities and exciting activities and had a chance to meet a lot of different people. Different in age, gender, occupation, social status and definitely - mindset! I was talking about great new opportunities, ideas, business development, dreams and many other similar topics with them. What I've found out is that most of those I've met were excited about these things we talked and they liked them, but..

And here comes "but.." they simply couldn't do any of those things because of their "particular" excuse story. At the beginning it seemed that they really did have a certain reason why not to do something they like or what can help them to get what they want, but later it became obvious that all the stories can be summed up in just a couple of same excuses everybody repeat again and again and again. I could even finish their story before they even reached the middle of it and that's not a psychic or mind reading (or maybe that what exactly a mind reading is). There are no unique stories about why not to do something what can give you the life you want. There are just worthless excuses that not only don't help you in life, but also are making damage to your life.

So, by listening to all those "great" and "sad" stories I made my mind reading map depending on the age of the talker (gender, occupation, social status doesn't matter, but the mindset does!). The topic is starting a business and doing what you want in life. Let's start from the youngest:

up to 18+- years old (school): I am too young, I need to talk to my parents, I need to finish school and go to university to see how it goes, I need to get education first. I'll do business later.

up to 23+- years old (university): I need to study now, to finish the university and get the education. I need to try job now, I'll do business later.

up to 30+- years old (job, relationship): I need to work for my boss, it's not bad or if it is bad I will change a job. I have a loan. I have a boy/girlfriend or wife/husband and no time now, later!

up to 40+- years old (job, routine, children): I have small children so I have no time, I have a loan and I can't take any risks and the job is not bad, I just got a promotion (and another loan). I'll take opportunities later.

over 50+- years old (job, routine): I am too old. I don't know anything else except my job routine. It's not much left till I will be socially paid from the government.

over 65+- years old (socially paid, job): It's not much left for me.

Do you recognize yourself in one of these groups?

And of course "no money" and "no time" are the greatest excuses for all these age groups with no exception. In my opinion the time is the most precious thing in life. It's when the real life is happening when you are doing what you really love (not what you like or what is ok, not bad or etc.).

And as I mentioned in the beginning about the competitions I believe that the life itself is the greatest competition of excuses and everybody is participating in this contest. Just the main difference is that winning the first place in this competition means at the very least not living your own life at all. It's the opposite competition where becoming the last means becoming the greatest and this competition don't need any people to judge you, the life will do that itself, because every action (no action is the action as well) will have its consequences.

So which place did you win in this competition last year? Are you proud with your trophies?

Hello Aistis,
I agree with you. Many people make excuses. They've come down with terminal excusitis. I wrote a post in December http://www.williambutler.ca/2013/12/excuses-begone-22-ways-eliminate-excuses/ you may like to look at.

As for myself, I'm in a happy place where I do what I enjoy... no excuses :)

Excuses and growth do not go hand in hand and I think I've made some of those excuses myself at different times and lost some of the opportunities which probably would have changed my life much earlier in my life.

But then, it's better late than never and I am glad I recognize them now and not just for myself but help other people recognize them and move beyond them.

I'm glad you found my post interesting! I believe everybody use these excuses at the certain time in their lives. I think the main thing is to understand that there are no excuses, there are just opportunities and we take them or loose them blindly.

The sad side of this is that some (most) people might never experience the life with great opportunities and no excuses..